How the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic Lev Facher By Lev Facher March 5, 2024

https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/05/opioid-addiction-treatment-methadone-buprenorphine-restrictions/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8nNZutsUFBhqfdUuOY562T09m_4i5ZL-km-qvtruUEmCvtBW-DqdIV_chZozwEvB_EjurxQtslh1BjVifkSayFSrmk3A&_hsmi=302448984&utm_content=302448984&utm_source=hs_email More than 1 in 4 younger Canadian deaths were opioid-related in 2021 The number of premature deaths associated with opioids across much of Canada doubled between 2019 and 2021, according to a new study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In 2021, that meant 1 in 4 deaths among those aged 20-39 were related to opioids. Similarly, opioids accounted for 1.7% of all deaths among people younger than 85 in 2019, but that figure rose to 3.2% in 2021. To identify these trends, researchers analyzed data on accidental opioid-related deaths from nine out of 13 provinces and territories in the country. As stark as these numbers are, STAT’s addiction reporter Lev Facher reminded me that the problem is actually so much worse here in the U.S. There were more than 6,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada in 2021, per this study. Here, more than 80,000 people die from an opioid overdose each year. Lev is currently reporting an extensive series about how the U.S. is severely underutilizing our best tools to combat the opioid epidemic. “They’re making it easier for me to relapse, in a way, because of some of the rules they’re trying to throw at you,” one person who has struggled to keep access to methadone told him. If you haven’t read the first few stories from The War on Recovery yet, I urge you to do so.